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The Ranger

Tuesday notes

Oct 23, 2012 - By Steven R. Peck

October rain

You probably know the guy who says he's sure it will rain because he just washed his car, or the woman who knows it will rain the moment she steps out of the hair salon. Well, maybe there's a Ranger rain dance, or its equivalent, as well. No sooner had we published a page-one story late last week about how dry it had been through the first nine months of the year, than we got three days of rain.

When was the last time we had measurable rain -- not snow, rain -- three times in the Riverton and Lander valleys the second half of October? Without knowing the exact answer, it's safe to say a rainy day triple as Halloween approaches is highly rare.

It's now likely that the month with the most rainfall for 2012 has been ... October? That borders on the unbelievable.

Extinguished

Here's an added benefit from the unexpected moisture this month. Any vestige of wildfires in Fremont County is kaput for the year. We humans can do what we will in terms of fire prevention and suppression -- and we ought to -- but the season shows again that Mother Nature is both the world's great arsonist and its great firefighter.

So long, smoke. You won't be missed.

Eric Blom

The Ranger welcomes a new member of the news staff today. He's Eric Blom, who grew up a Notre Dame football fan in South Bend, Ind., attended one of the nation's top SLACs (that stands for small liberal arts colleges) and worked the past couple of years in journalism in Minnesota's Twin Cities.

He comes to Fremont County with his cross country skis, hockey skates, his camera and two bikes.

He'll be covering numerous general assignments for both The Ranger and Lander Journal, some local government, a bit of sports, and maybe write a column once in awhile.

Help us welcome Eric to the community as he begins this important work. His first byline is on page one of today's edition. Expect many more.

Treasurer process

Riverton has proved again its geographic suitability for nearly any kind of significant assembly in Wyoming short of an arena rock concert or mega-convention. The Wyoming Republican Party used Riverton as its designated spot Monday for winnowing the field of Wyoming State Treasurer replacement candidates. The city's central location and suitable facilities give it a convenience and accessibility that served Wyoming's interest well Monday.

Nov. 6 is near

Election day is just two weeks off. We're getting some letters to the editor related to issues and candidates. We plan to publish letters through Friday, Nov. 2. Remember this quirk of newspaper production: The Sunday opinion page actually is produced Wednesday evening and printed Thursday morning as part of Section B.

So hustling a letter in on Friday afternoon and pressing for it to be included in Sunday's paper is a full day too late. Friday won't be the last publication date before election day, but it is the last day before election day that we will be producing a new opinion page. We might consider some letters for dailyranger.com after that, but for the print edition, Friday is the day.

The Series

Major League Baseball's World Series is set, featuring two great names in baseball history, the Giants and the Tigers.

Both teams enter the Fall Classic on hot streaks, the Tigers having just swept the New York Yankees in four straight games to win the American League pennant, while the Giants erased a 3-1 deficit to the defending champ St. Louis Cardinals on the National League side. The Giants allowed St. Louis just one run in the final three games combined.

The series might well showcase each league's Most Valuable Player: catcher Buster Posey of the Giants and slugger Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, whose batting triple crown was baseball's first since 1967. And the pitching? Detroit has the guy considered the best in the game, Justin Verlander, while San Francisco's full staff has been baseball's best for several years.

This is the way the World Series is supposed to be -- the best putters, the best hitters, two great ballparks, and two venerable franchises laden with history.